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Belinda Li and Jessica Martin are Museum Studies interns working on the Information Age gallery.

Belinda explores Making the Modern World

Hi! I’m Belinda. I’m currently studying for a Master’s Degree in Museum Studies from the University of Leicester. This is our sixth week out of our eight week placement.

The purpose of the placement is to give us professional experience in the museums sector. We are working on the Information Age gallery that is scheduled to be opened in September 2014. This experience has shown me how many people are required to accomplish all the different jobs to complete this overall project in time and how complex the planning process must be for an exhibition and a project of this size. This gallery has been years in the making.

I have specifically been working on the development of a digital in-gallery activity for school groups visiting the museum. I have been researching different aspects of this activity to present to the team. The activity for this new gallery has drawn on many of the topics I have been researching over the last few years at university and has been a very interesting project to work on. It is allowing me to translate theory into real world practice.

In addition to being able to see the true inner workings behind the museum, I have also had the chance to participate in some other amazing activities around the museum this summer. I have been scanned in 3D for 3D summer and gotten to wander around different parts of the museum to do research. This has been an incredible experience, which has given me chances to do and see things that I never thought I would but has also given me real world grounding in the museum sector. I have enjoyed it immensely.

Jessica in front of the Apollo 10 capsule

Hey y’all, I’m Jessica. Like Belinda, I am also finishing up my Master’s in Museum Studies. I can’t really believe that I only have two weeks left of the placement to go; time has gone by crazy fast here at the Science Museum.

I am working on two projects for the Information Age team. Firstly, I have been looking at the structure and content of the Information Age collections website. This has involved researching the collections websites of other museums, and trying to decide which features make collections interesting, and engaging for visitors as they browse through the objects. This can be something as simple as making sure that the on-line collections are easy to find.

Secondly, I have been working with a team of volunteers, trying to pull together a wish list for an object handling programme for the gallery. For this, we have been looking into what makes an object engaging, not just from an academic perspective, but also from a tactile one. We have visited the Science Museum store at Blythe House and we have gone on field trips to other museums with object handling programmes. This Friday, we are headed out to the London Transport Museum and the British Museum so that we can learn from their volunteers about the dos and don’ts of object handling.

Belinda and Jessica visiting Blythe House with a volunteer.

The Science Museum has been great. Seeing David Attenborough (and making my siblings jealous) has definitely been one of the highlights of my stay, and taking part in a silent disco being held in the Exploring Space gallery counts among one of the more surreal experience of my life. I have learned so much here about how a museum functions behind the scenes. Something is happening all the time, whether it’s the organisation of a conference, staff training or a staff picnic, there is always stuff going on.

We would just like to say thanks to Jen Kavanagh, our supervisor, the rest of the Information Age Office and to the Science Museum, for the opportunities and experiences we have been given. Thanks!

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